As an unabashed admirer of the splendiferous cricketing gifts of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, I am not ashamed to confess that I am an equally avid aficionado of SMG, the misunderstood man.
As an unabashed admirer of the splendiferous cricketing gifts of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, I am not ashamed to confess that I am an equally avid aficionado of SMG, the misunderstood man.
My respect for Gavaskar, the human being, stems out of knowing the original Little Master at fairly close quarters for over 40 years as cricket correspondent, employer and, if I may say so, as friend, philosopher and guide.
To say that Gavaskar is not liked by some people would be a gross understatement. Many hate his guts because of his inflexible beliefs, uncompromising views and lack of diplomacy in some of his writings and utterances.
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SHINING STAR: Sunil Gavaskar, who celebrated his 60th birthday on July 10. |
Since his playing days, Sunny's critics and detractors have ranged from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials to selectors, from adversaries on the field to those in committee rooms, from prejudiced phoren media persons, who have hated his gumption as player and ICC administrator to men of straw in his own country who are envious of the legend's gifts and accomplishments.
Obdurate streakIt would be fair to say Gavaskar has not helped his own cause: At times because of unbending, misconceived self-righteousness, and at others due to a conspicuous obdurate streak (said to have come down genealogically from uncle Madhav Mantri, a former Test wicket-keeper).
Gavaskar can be sullen, obstinate, even abrasive. During his playing days, there was no denying his relentless, if somewhat unrealistic, expectation of excellence from his teammates and, later, from colleagues in other walks of life.
His notorious aversion to some people in authority at home and in the foreign media are manifestly the result of injury to his fierce personal pride during his formative years.
Gavaskar's antipathy to even the slightest hint of arrogance or injustice on the part of foreign administrators, coaches and media persons stem from, what I consider an admirable but, often misunderstood, sense of patriotism.
Nationalistic Sunny's nationalistic fervour which, at times, comes perilously close to being chauvinistic, is obviously the result of an unswerving conviction that, for too long, the brown man has had to bear the burden in a game run by arrogant men of pale pigmentation. It is said famously about Sunil Gavaskar that he has an inability to realise a conflict of interest even when it stares him in the face.
Gavaskar's run-ins with those in authority go back to the infamous incident at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1981 when he, in a moment of blind, impetuous rage at umpire and opponents, ordered opening partner Chetan Chauhan to walk off the field with him, upon being given out leg-before to Dennis Lillee.
But for sagacity and presence of mind on the part of team manager Wing Commander Shahid Durrani, who restored sanity in the dressing-room and ensured continuation of proceedings, an aberration, stemming out of immature self-righteousness, would have tarnished, in the eyes of posterity, the otherwise blemishless record of sportsmanship of a cricketing great.
Over the years, Gavaskar has been unwavering in his belief that the ICC and some of its officials umpires and match referees included have at times applied double standards, as a result of which Indian players have got the wrong end of the stick, whereas 'gora' teams have got away with blatant transgressions of the spirit of the game.
It was this conviction that brought about Gavaskar's spat with Ricky Ponting on the 2007-08 Australian tour on the issue of onfield aggression, prompting the Australian captain to retaliate by raking up the 1981 MCG incident.
UncompromisingThen there were suggestions in his newspaper column that racism prompted the decision of ICC match referee Mike Procter to ban Harbhajan Singh for three Tests after the brouhaha in the Sydney Test in 2008.
This led to the then ICC president-elect, David Morgan, expressing concern over conflict of interest in Gavaskar's role as columnist and television commentator, on one hand, and chairmanship of the ICC Cricket Committee on the other. To his credit, the Little Master resigned his coveted ICC post, rather than compromise his freedom of speech and expression.
More recently, Sunil Gavaskar has taken up cudgels against Greg Chappell in the belief the former coach surreptitiously appointed Ian Fraser his assistant. He has also lashed out at John Buchanan for getting many of his Queensland friends appointed as the Kolkata Knight Riders' support staff in the IPL.
I have had my fair share of differences with Sunny on cricketing matters. At times I have been unsparing in my criticism of him, as when he was uncharitable in some of his allusions to his fans in the Caribbean in his fledgling years after he took the cricketing world by storm on the 1971 tour of the West Indies.
I was also constrained to take issue with Gavaskar when he was decidedly unkind in his references to the late David Hookes in the context of general onfield conduct of Australian teams. However, I must record that he graciously apologised after I wrote that it would be fair and dignified to do so.
When he was editor of my magazine Sportsweek and during his early years as television commentator, I had to occasionally suggest corrections as regards syntax and figures of speech, which, I must record, he accepted graciously and sportingly.
Sunny chooses his friends carefully. Once a friend, he can be depended upon for life, as was the case with industrialist and cricket patron, the late Virenchee Sagar, his boss at Nirlon, as also, indeed, with Gautam Thakkar, his dear departed friend and badminton doubles partner at the Bombay Gymkhana, where he continues to regale our small Saturday afternoon club with delectable cricketing yarns.
Not much is known about the various humanitarian causes with which Gavaskar, a devoted family man, is involved but he prefers not to talk about them.
However, being a trustee of the CHAMPS Foundation, (which he founded and runs along with his family members), I am aware of the excellent work the trust is doing in helping former Indian national sportsmen from various disciplines, who have fallen on hard times.
Not many Indian cricketers, past or present, are blessed with Sunny's God-given gift of perspicacity in matters cricketing. Nor is it given to many celebrities in our country to deport themselves with the unpractised humility and dignity of Gavaskar.
Role modelI have yet to see the exemplary role model refuse a request for an autograph from the legion of his fans all over the world, howsoever trying the situation (the only exception being requests to sign on currency notes).
In a society, in which hypocrisy and craven duplicity are becoming the norm, not many have the courage of their convictions as Gavaskar, who wears his passionate beliefs on his sleeves and expresses them in print and on air passionately and fearlessly.
More strength to his elbow.Excerpted from the Sunil Gavaskar Cricket's Little Master compiled by Debasish Datta and published by Niyogi Books. The book (below), priced at Rs 995.00, will hit the stands soon.
